Tuesday, December 28, 2004

A Bigfoot Christmas

I guess you could call this a police procedural or maybe a spy story. About Bigfoot. But not the tall, hairy, Chewbacca-like Bigfoot we all know. No, this story tells us about the Bigfoot, an offshoot of some tribe of indigenous people in upper Saskatchewan. These people look a lot like us, with one exception: their feet are six-feet long. They have managed, however, to develop methods of concealing their superpods through becoming the suppliers of preference of floor coverings ("the wall-to-wall carpet is a dead give-away") for the Canadian government.

The death of a friend, crushed under a papier-mache boot that was to be part of an Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe Christmas display, brings Acting Sergeant Bullock of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police into play. This friend was an unofficial Bigfoot expert (crackpot) who was convinced that the Bigfoot were going to stage a coup to take over the Canadian government. The story follows Acting Sergeant Bullock as he investigates and tries to thwart the conspiracy.

As you may have guessed by now, this is a humorous (or is it humourous) story. Mr. Powell is a fine writer and follows most of the conventions of a police procedural. It's just that the basic situation is a little over the top. But that's OK. It's supposed to be.

In short, I had fun and look forward to the next appearance of Acting Sergeant Bullock of the RCMP.